Luka Modric was built for big scenes and records!
On 8 June 2008, in the Euro 2008 group stage between Croatia and Austria, Modric deflected Jurgen Marjo at the 12-yard point and scored a penalty in the face of great interference from the host fans. At the age of 22 years and 273 days, the fledgling Magic Flute also set the record for the youngest Croatian player to score in the Main European Championship.
After 13 years and 13 days, Modric, under the watchful eye of the host fans, wrote another record into his resume book.
In the final round of the European Championship group stage, Croatia took on Scotland at Hampton Park in Glasgow, and Modric made three consecutive starts in the case of having to win to qualify. In order to bring the Flute closer to the box and offload some of the defensive tasks, manager Dalic put Brozovic into the starting lineup, leaving the latter to take on a job similar to That of Casemiro at Real Madrid.
Judging from the official formation chart, Modric appeared in the familiar "No. 10 position", and his left and right sides were dominated by Pescirich and Vlašić respectively. However, in actual combat, the center of gravity of the Magic Flute was still slightly tilted to the right, in order to suppress Tierney and Robertson (the strong side of the Scottish attack) on the same side.
In the opening 17th minute, Croatia tore a gap from Scotland's strong side and opened the scoring with Vlašic, who was inserted into the penalty area – as Modric's successor, the attacking midfielder from CSKA Moscow also became Croatia's second-youngest goal scorer in the European Cup at the age of 23 years and 261 days: "We quickly entered the rhythm of the game and created a lot of opportunities while mastering the situation on the pitch. Dalić's "grab the start" strategy formulated before the game was realized in Vlašić.
But since then, Scotland has continued to create danger in front of Croatia's goal with set pieces and crosses from the left. Under the defense of Tierney and Robertson, Modric not only had difficulty advancing to the front, but also made many mistakes with the ball. It is clear that after an extraordinarily busy season, Modric cannot sustain a high load (62nd appearance of the season) and needs more support from those around him.
Fortunately, Both Kovacic and Brozovic found form in the second half, allowing Modric to pull out of the midfield fight in time and create more threats in front of the Scotland team. The historic moment that belonged to Modric finally came in the 62nd minute – in the face of Kovačić's exquisite return, Modric used the extremely flamboyant outer foot instep to shoot through Marshall's ten-finger barrier and also crushed the Scots' psychological defenses. In this way, the magic flute also set a record for the oldest goal scored by a Croatian player in the European Cup at the age of 35 years and 286 days.
While making his own history, Modric has not forgotten to become a teammate. Thanks to his corner assists, Perisic scored the fourth goal of his career at the European Championship and became the first Croatian player to achieve this goal, in addition to ivan the horror, who also scored nine major goals (world cup and European Cup), on par with the current president of the Football Association, Davo Souk.
Although not named "best of the game", Modric, who was relieved, still showed his trademark smile after the game: "The smile has multiple meanings, I am happy to score goals, but the most important thing is that the team wins." ”
Modric is also full of confidence in the next knockout rounds: "We played a great game, and we also advanced to the knockout rounds as we wished, and completed the basic goals. We couldn't be happy with the first two games, but we all knew that the team could play better. As long as we play like we did today, it would be a threat to any opponent. Now, we have to rest and prepare for the next game. ”